Teaching young people to learn to swim

Despite New Zealand being a water-loving nation, we do not have a good track record when it comes to water safety. Last year the New Zealand Council for Educational Research surveyed schools to gather information about their pools and aquatic education programmes for Water Safety New Zealand. This article looks at some of the findings from this survey. In particular it focuses on the ways in which communities were working to help ensure that young people were learning to swim, and discusses some of the benefits and challenges of community involvement.